Taste like chicken… it is chicken, made from cells

A Bay Area food-technology startup says it has created the world’s first chicken strips grown from self-reproducing cells without so much as ruffling a feather.

The developer, Memphis Meats, had a group taste test the chicken this week. Some who sampled the strip—breaded, deep-fried and spongier than a whole chicken breast—said it nearly nailed the flavor of the traditional variety. Their verdict: They would eat it again.

Scientists, startups and animal-welfare activists believe the new product could help to revolutionize the roughly $200 billion U.S. meat industry. Their goal: Replace billions of cattle, hogs and chickens with animal meat they say can b

Currently, about 61 billion chickens are raised annually for food. It is relatively cheap to produce and has few cultural and religious barriers. The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization projects that chicken will overtake pork as the world’s most-consumed meat by 2020.

...Very much in favor of anything that reduces or eliminates the slaughterhouse. -PETA

Ingrid Newkirk, president of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, has said her group was “very much in favor of anything that reduces or eliminates the slaughterhouse,” and PETA helped fund some early research.

While they are hoping to begin mass production within a few years, it seems that this is still a ways away, given that it currently costs close to $9,000 to produce one pound of chicken.

Startups have won fans among animal-welfare advocates, including those that typically oppose all meat consumption.How about you? Would you be willing to eat chicken which was made exclusively from self-producing cells?